Social media data from 2014 tells a story about the growing importance of video, for companies like Amazon as well as social networks

Social media referral traffic has become a very important metric when it comes to analyzing the success of a network. But the numbers don’t always tell a simple story. Shareholic released data summarizing social referral traffic throughout 2014, and it helps to illustrate how online video is redefining how social networks conduct their business.

It’s impossible to talk about social referral traffic without talking about Facebook, as Social Times has done previously. What’s more important to note is that YouTube saw a decrease in referrals of 65.49 percent during Q4 of 2014, and Facebook’s video efforts may go some way to explaining that dip.

Danny Wong explains:

YouTube is no longer the sole gatekeeper of video views. With auto-play videos, Facebook has cannibalized YouTube’s traffic share. To maximize the potential reach of your videos, you can (and should) publish them to Facebook and to YouTube.

Still, the apparently dismal referral rate for YouTube isn’t the whole story. There may have been a 94.76 percent decrease in referrals over the last three years, but YouTube is still the number one video service on the web. Google’s Q4 data showed that YouTube revenue was up more than 100 percent year-over-year, and viewing time was also up 50 percent in the same period. Indeed, YouTube is still very strong.

All of this indicates that video and streaming lead the way when it comes to profitability among the social networks in the coming year. Marketers have started taking to Facebook for their video needs, which could push YouTube into second place when it comes to uploads. Indeed, it looks like every network that can is investing in video, especially Facebook.